Wednesday, April 15

As I do before posting most of my recipes, I shared this one with my mom. Unlike most of my recipes, she didn't sound exactly thrilled when I read it to her. (She's not that into chocolate. Weird, I know. But whadda ya gonna do?)

The very next day I got a phone call, that went like this:

"Susan. I made those orange and chocolate chip muffins yesterday. OH. MY. GOD. They were soooo good!"

"Really? You thought so?"

"Oh, there's just something so wonderful about the combination of the tangy orange and the sweet chocolate. And you know walnuts are my favorite."

"I'm so happy you liked them!"

Not five days later, I got another call from Mom:

"Susan, this is your mother. I can't stop eating those chocolate chip muffins."

"Seriously?"

"I just baked two more batches yesterday. Everyone who has eaten them loves them! I'm telling them to go to your ba -log, so you've gotta put up the recipe, okay, honey?"

Place rack in center of oven and preheat to 375 degrees F. Spray a 12 mold regular size muffin pan with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In a separate bowl, whisk together melted butter, egg, buttermilk, orange juice, orange zest, and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture and stir quickly until well combined. Fold in the chocolate chips and walnuts. Spoon the batter evenly into the 12 molds. Sprinkle with reserved 2 tablespoons each of chocolate chips and walnuts.

Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a cake tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack to cool for 5 minutes before removing each muffin and placing on a wire rack to cool.

These look exactly like muffins I used to have as a kid (without the oranges). I'm pretty sure the ones I snacked on were from a box, but yummy nonetheless to my ten year old palate :) I love the combo of chocolate + walnut, but citrus I like on its own.

My whole family enjoyed this. I love when I am able to find good recipes and articles on line. I get most of mine on Wacanai.com(http://www.wacanai.com/intro)/intro ). They have really great searching capabilities and a lot of good articles. People link their own page to wacania so you can find some other great sites too. You should think about posting this article on it, I think a lot of people would enjoy it.

OMG! I just love your mother. She sounds so funny and cool at the same time. I have a few members of my family who don't like chocolate either. Weird, I know! I've got to make the recipe. Sounds delicious. How did you create the recipe?

I love chocolate and since these come so highly recommended (HC's made them too now) I have these bookmarked.But I'm off on a break from this sunday, so it'll be next month before I get around to them.